Fully agreed on all points. Another part of the issue, though, and one touched on by GH, but not really developed, is that we don't own that report. One poster yesterday wrote, "It's my written report". And I think that mentality is what drives a lot of the unwillingness to 'compromise' our integrity. In actuality, though, it's not our report. It's not written for us, it's not paid for by us. We are being paid to deliver a product/service - and at the point of transmission, it no longer belongs to us. It belongs to the client.
It seems to me the easiest way to address this stuff is to collect whatever group of words we're not supposed to use, and include that in the engagement letter. That way, everyone knows up front what the expectations are, and the appraiser has the choice to decline the assignment should he/she decide banning the word 'church' would adversely affect the credibility of his/her results.
Would stating I am the writer of the report sound better? That was my intent. We know that the client 'owns' the report, but they are hiring/engaging me to write it.
The problem with "collecting a group of words" is
A) It is a swiftly changing and ever increasing list
B) It is different for every client--I use several words on the list provided in this thread, and only ever had one request to change--church--which I did not change, with no further ramifications, and I continue to get orders from that client.
C) In many/most reports, a particular 'word' may never even come up (the only time church does for instance is if subject is next to one and it has to be addressed because of likely review comment anyway wanting to know marketability effects. Why decline an assignment on the very low probability a word may be an issue anyway?
D) We can all continue to roll over and let this industry do whatever it wants to us, or have some appraisers have some credibility to stand up for themselves and the industry, since obviously their is absolutely ZERO advocacy for us from anyone. We will HAVE to do it ourselves.
How long and ridiculous will the lists get before each of us will raise their hand and say no?
The continued erosion of fees and business isn't bad enough. No, the appraiser haters want to cause a ton of stress for every report we do now. We know their end goal--to completely get rid of us. Fine. Do you roll over, bend over, or stand your ground? Each of us has to decide that for ourselves of course.
But what good will it be for you to be the last fish in a lake that has completely dried up?
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LMAO
